Islamization of Jerusalem

The Islamization of Jerusalem refers to the process through which Jerusalem and its Old City acquired an Islamic character and, eventually, a significant Muslim presence. The foundation for Jerusalem's Islamization was laid by the Muslim conquest of the Levant, and began shortly after the city was besieged and captured in 638 CE by the Rashidun Caliphate under Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second Rashidun caliph. The second wave of Islamization occurred after the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, a Christian state that was established after the First Crusade, at the Battle of Hattin in 1187. The eventual fall of the Crusader states by 1291 led to a period of almost-uninterrupted Muslim rule that lasted for seven centuries, and a dominant Islamic culture was consolidated in the region during the Ayyubid, Mamluk and early Ottoman periods. Beginning in the late Ottoman era, Jerusalem’s demographics turned increasingly multicultural, and regained a Jewish-majority character during the late-19th and early-20th centuries that had not been seen since the Roman period, which largely ended the Jewish presence in the region.^[1]

The remodulation was grounded on a foundational narrative in early Islamic texts, themselves drawing on Persian, Jewish and Christian traditions^[2] that emphasized the city's cosmological significance within God's creation.^[3] At the time of the Muslim conquest of the city, the victors encountered many traditions concerning the Temple Mount: Muslim beliefs regarding David (the miḥrāb Dāwūd in the Quran 38:20–21) and Solomon;^[4] shared beliefs that from there, on Mount Moriah (the “mountain” that the Temple Mount sits upon), Adam had been born and died;^[5] shared beliefs that Mount Moriah was also where Abraham almost sacrificed one of his sons; and they absorbed the Christian belief that Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist (in the Quran: 'prophet of the Jewish scholars'), raised on the site a mihrab to Mary, the mother of Jesus.^[6] These and other such traditions affected the outlay of Islamic buildings. It has also been argued that the central role that Jerusalem assumed in Islamic belief began with Muhammad's instruction to his followers to observe the qibla by facing the direction of Jerusalem during their daily prostrations in prayer.^[7] After 13 years (or 16 months,^[8] depending on the source),^[9] due to both divine guidance^[10] and practical matters (souring of relationship with the Jews^[7] and/or Muhammad’s frustration with the city and its people^[11]) the direction of prayer was changed to Mecca in present-day Saudi Arabia.^[12] The Umayyad construction of the Dome of the Rock was interpreted by later hostile Abbasid historians as an attempt to redirect the Hajj from Mecca to Jerusalem.^[13]

Although the city of Jerusalem is not mentioned by any of its names in the Quran, it is mentioned in later Islamic literature and in the hadith as the place of Muhammad's Isra and Miʽraj.^[14] The Quranic reference to masjid al-aqṣā originally referred to one of two sanctuaries at al-Juʽranah near Mecca, with the other being masjid al-adnā,^[15] The Umayyad Caliphate reportedly exploited these traditions connecting Muhammad’s Isra and Miʽraj specifically to Jerusalem and, in the face of some concerted opposition—particularly from Shia Muslims—their claim prevailed.^[16]

^ Shlomo Slonim, Jerusalem in America's Foreign Policy, 1947-1997, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 1999 ISBN 978-9-041-11255-2 p.13
^ Khoury p.57:’Persian, Jewish, and Christian-Byzantine elements were present in Arabia itself prior to the appearance of Islam, and were integrated into Arab history, tradition, and culture to become part of the collective heritage and memories that were recorded in the Islamic historical writings of later years. A particularly rich repertoire of Arab myths and memories, as well as architecture, thus preceded the appearance of the first Islamic monument.
^ Zayde Antrim, Routes and Realms: The Power of Place in the Early Islamic World,Oxford University Press, 2012 p.48
^ A brief guide to the Al-Haram Al-Sharif Jerusalem. [Place of publication not identified]. 1924. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-9710511-7-1. OCLC 852805293. Its identity with the site of Solomon's Temple is beyond dispute. This, too, is the spot, according to the universal belief, on which 'David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings'.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ Grabar pp.38-39
^ Khoury, p.58
^ ^a ^b Hoiberg, Dale (2000). Students' Britannica India. Popular Prakashan. p. 224. ISBN 978-0-85229-760-5.
^ Yohanan Friedmann (2003). Tolerance and coercion in Islam: interfaith relations in the Muslim tradition. Cambridge University Press. p. 31.
^ Mayer, Tamar; Mourad, Suleiman Ali (2008). Jerusalem: Idea and Reality. Routledge. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-415-42128-7.
^ Sura 2 (Al-Baqara), ayah 144, Quran 2:144
^ "Altafsir.com - The Tafsirs - التفاسير". www.altafsir.com. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
^ Yitzhak Reiter, Marwan Abu Khalaf,'Jerusalem’s Religious Significance,' at Palestine-Israel Journal, Vol.8, No.1, 2001.
^ Nuha N. N. Khoury, The Dome of the Rock, the Kaʿba, and Ghumdan: Arab Myths and Umayyad Monuments, in Muqarnas, Vol. 10, Essays in Honor of Oleg Grabar, Brill (1993), pp. 57-65, p.58. "The Abbasid historian al Ya'qubi (d. 874) accused Abd al-Malik of attempting to divert the pilgrimage from Mecca to Jerusalem, thus characterizing the Umayyad Dome of the Rock as a rival to the Kaaba."
^ Historic Cities of the Islamic World edited by Clifford Edmund Bosworth P: 226
^ Grabar, Oleg (1959). "The Umayyad Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem". Ars Orientalis. 3: 33–62. ISSN 0571-1371. JSTOR 4629098. Bevan has shown that among early traditionists there are many who do not accept the identification of the masjid al-aqsd, and among them are to be found such great names as al-Bukhari and Tabarl. Both Ibn Ishaq an al-Ya'qubi precede their accounts with expressions which indicate that these are stories which are not necessarily accepted as dogma. It was suggested by J. Horovitz that in the early period of Islam there is little justification for assuming that the Koranic expression in any way referred to Jerusalem. But while Horovitz thought that it referred to a place in heaven, A. Guillaume's careful analysis of the earliest texts (al-Waqidi and al-Azraqi, both in the later second century A.H.) has convincingly shown that the Koranic reference to the masjid al-aqsa applies specifically to al-Ji'ranah, near Mekkah, where there were two sanctuaries (masjid al-adnai and masjid al-aqsa), and where Muhammad so-journed in dha al-qa'dah of the eighth year after the Hijrah.
^ Yitzhak Reiter, Jerusalem and Its Role in Islamic Solidarity, Springer 2008 p.21.:’The issue of al-Aqsa Mosque's location has been subject to much debate within Islam, and even today there are those who believe it is not in Jerusalem at all, according to one claim, the text was meant to refer to the Mosque of the Prophet in al-Madina or in a place close to al-Madina. Another perception is that of the Ja’fari Shiites, who interpret that al-Aqsa is a mosque in heaven. This interpretation reflects the Shiite anti-Umayyad emotions in an attempt to play down the sacredness of Umayyad Jerusalem and to minimize the sanctity of Jerusalem by detaching the qur’anic al-Masjid al-aqsa from the Temple Mount, thus asserting that the Prophet never came to that city, but rather ascended to the heavenly al-Aqsa mosque without ever stopping in bayt al-Maqdis [Jerusalem]. Apart from depriving Jerusalem of its major attraction for pilgrims, the Shiite traditions offer alternative pilgrimage attractions such as the Shiite holy city of Kufa, as well as Mecca. However, the tradition about Muhammad’s Night Journey to Jerusalem were never suppressed. They were exploited by the Umayyads and continued to be quoted in the tafsir (Qur’an interpretation) collections. The interpretation dating from the Umayyad and Crusader eras, according to which al-Aqsa is in Jerusalem, is the one that prevailed.’’

[1] Shlomo Slonim, Jerusalem in America's Foreign Policy, 1947-1997, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 1999 ISBN 978-9-041-11255-2 p.13

[2] Khoury p.57:’Persian, Jewish, and Christian-Byzantine elements were present in Arabia itself prior to the appearance of Islam, and were integrated into Arab history, tradition, and culture to become part of the collective heritage and memories that were recorded in the Islamic historical writings of later years. A particularly rich repertoire of Arab myths and memories, as well as architecture, thus preceded the appearance of the first Islamic monument.

[Antrim-3] Zayde Antrim, Routes and Realms: The Power of Place in the Early Islamic World,Oxford University Press, 2012 p.48

[4] A brief guide to the Al-Haram Al-Sharif Jerusalem. [Place of publication not identified]. 1924. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-9710511-7-1. OCLC 852805293. Its identity with the site of Solomon's Temple is beyond dispute. This, too, is the spot, according to the universal belief, on which 'David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings'.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[5] Grabar pp.38-39

[6] Khoury, p.58

[:0-7] Hoiberg, Dale (2000). Students' Britannica India. Popular Prakashan. p. 224. ISBN 978-0-85229-760-5.

[8] Yohanan Friedmann (2003). Tolerance and coercion in Islam: interfaith relations in the Muslim tradition. Cambridge University Press. p. 31.

[9] Mayer, Tamar; Mourad, Suleiman Ali (2008). Jerusalem: Idea and Reality. Routledge. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-415-42128-7.

[10] Sura 2 (Al-Baqara), ayah 144, Quran 2:144

[11] "Altafsir.com - The Tafsirs - التفاسير". www.altafsir.com. Retrieved 3 March 2020.

[12] Yitzhak Reiter, Marwan Abu Khalaf,'Jerusalem’s Religious Significance,' at Palestine-Israel Journal, Vol.8, No.1, 2001.

[13] Nuha N. N. Khoury, The Dome of the Rock, the Kaʿba, and Ghumdan: Arab Myths and Umayyad Monuments, in Muqarnas, Vol. 10, Essays in Honor of Oleg Grabar, Brill (1993), pp. 57-65, p.58. "The Abbasid historian al Ya'qubi (d. 874) accused Abd al-Malik of attempting to divert the pilgrimage from Mecca to Jerusalem, thus characterizing the Umayyad Dome of the Rock as a rival to the Kaaba."

[14] Historic Cities of the Islamic World edited by Clifford Edmund Bosworth P: 226

[15] Grabar, Oleg (1959). "The Umayyad Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem". Ars Orientalis. 3: 33–62. ISSN 0571-1371. JSTOR 4629098. Bevan has shown that among early traditionists there are many who do not accept the identification of the masjid al-aqsd, and among them are to be found such great names as al-Bukhari and Tabarl. Both Ibn Ishaq an al-Ya'qubi precede their accounts with expressions which indicate that these are stories which are not necessarily accepted as dogma. It was suggested by J. Horovitz that in the early period of Islam there is little justification for assuming that the Koranic expression in any way referred to Jerusalem. But while Horovitz thought that it referred to a place in heaven, A. Guillaume's careful analysis of the earliest texts (al-Waqidi and al-Azraqi, both in the later second century A.H.) has convincingly shown that the Koranic reference to the masjid al-aqsa applies specifically to al-Ji'ranah, near Mekkah, where there were two sanctuaries (masjid al-adnai and masjid al-aqsa), and where Muhammad so-journed in dha al-qa'dah of the eighth year after the Hijrah.

[16] Yitzhak Reiter, Jerusalem and Its Role in Islamic Solidarity, Springer 2008 p.21.:’The issue of al-Aqsa Mosque's location has been subject to much debate within Islam, and even today there are those who believe it is not in Jerusalem at all, according to one claim, the text was meant to refer to the Mosque of the Prophet in al-Madina or in a place close to al-Madina. Another perception is that of the Ja’fari Shiites, who interpret that al-Aqsa is a mosque in heaven. This interpretation reflects the Shiite anti-Umayyad emotions in an attempt to play down the sacredness of Umayyad Jerusalem and to minimize the sanctity of Jerusalem by detaching the qur’anic al-Masjid al-aqsa from the Temple Mount, thus asserting that the Prophet never came to that city, but rather ascended to the heavenly al-Aqsa mosque without ever stopping in bayt al-Maqdis [Jerusalem]. Apart from depriving Jerusalem of its major attraction for pilgrims, the Shiite traditions offer alternative pilgrimage attractions such as the Shiite holy city of Kufa, as well as Mecca. However, the tradition about Muhammad’s Night Journey to Jerusalem were never suppressed. They were exploited by the Umayyads and continued to be quoted in the tafsir (Qur’an interpretation) collections. The interpretation dating from the Umayyad and Crusader eras, according to which al-Aqsa is in Jerusalem, is the one that prevailed.’’

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